Today, it was announced that Twitter-owned TweetDeck will be re-focusing and doubling their efforts on web applications and their highly popular Chrome app. In doing so, the Android and iOS versions of this client are being discontinued and completely removed from their respective stores starting in May. This ties in with the retirement of Twitter’s v1.0 API which TweetDeck has spoken of before.

Below are two snippets from TweetDeck’s full blog post on the upcoming shutdown. 

To continue to offer a great product that addresses your unique needs, we’re going to focus our development efforts on our modern, web-based versions of TweetDeck. To that end, we are discontinuing support for our older apps: TweetDeck AIR, TweetDeck for Android and TweetDeck for iPhone. They will be removed from their respective app stores in early May and will stop functioning shortly thereafter. We’ll also discontinue support for our Facebook integration.

Additionally, TweetDeck AIR, TweetDeck for Android and TweetDeck for iPhone rely on v1.0 of Twitter’s API, which we are retiring starting this month. Leading up to that retirement, Twitter’s platform team will be performing occasional tests that will affect applications that rely on API v1.0. Over the next two months users of TweetDeck AIR, TweetDeck for Android and TweetDeck for iPhone may experience some outages with those apps before they are removed from their respective app stores in early May.

Will anyone be sad to see it go?

Via: Tweetdeck

Cheers Northside!

Twitter to Shut Down TweetDeck Apps, Will be Removed From Google Play in May is a post from: Droid Life

Twitter may have just snatched up super hot 3rd party client TweetDeck to keep it out of the hands of odd little social app guru, UberMedia.  According to TechCrunch, UberMedia was in position to buy TD, but Twitter swooped in and outbid them by some $20 million at the last minute to keep it out of their hands.  Apparently, UberMedia is really into buying up Twitter clients and the originators of the service decided they weren’t a fan of one company owning that many of their users.

So what does this mean for TweetDeck?  Well, we really have no idea.  All we can do now is cross our fingers and pray to Buddha that they don’t decide to axe one of (if not the) top Twitter clients in all the land which has already been downloaded over 1 million times on Android (and who knows how many times on iOS).  But with Twitter really pushing their own client these days, we’re wondering how much longer it’ll be around.

Do we need to start a petition?  (Hah, bad joke sorry.)  Thoughts?

Via:  TechCrunch

Report: Twitter Buys TweetDeck for $50 Million is a post from: Droid Life

TweetDeck on Android continues to thrive and in a recent tweet from their official Twitter account, has apparently passed over the number of Mac users.  Sort of cool right?  It would have been nicer to see it say, “Passes iOS users!” but we’ll take this as a first step.

TweetDeck still everyone’s favorite Android Twitter app?

Via:  Eurodroid, Phandroid

Tweetdeck Now on More Android Handsets than Mac Computers is a post from: Droid Life

Friday looks like app update day for some of the major players.  TweetDeck, Foursquare, Documents to Go, Google Voice Search and Goggles all saw updates either yesterday or today.  Some are minor tweaks while others like Docs to Go saw some pretty big changes.  Go get your update on!

TweetDeck changelog here.  |  Voice search info here.  | Documents to Go here.

Foursquare above.  | Goggles above.

Cheers @asianmario!

TweetDeck, Foursquare, Documents to Go, Voice Search, Google Goggles All Receive Updates is a post from: Droid Life

We had been waiting for this latest Steve Jobs vs. Android rant to sort of shake out before diving into it and damn are we glad we did.  If you have no idea what we’re talking about, here is the short run down.  Jobs, during an earnings call yesterday, went off for a good 5 minutes (seriously, went OFF) on all sorts of topics, including RIM and 7-inch tablets, but as you may have guessed, Android was the main target.  He mad sure to point out through his alien logic that Android isn’t really open, is too fragmented, and that he can’t stand the fact that manufacturers won’t report how many Android devices they are shipping.  You can taste the frustration in his stuttering and it’s amazing.

Full 5 minute rant after the jump plus a couple of responses.  

Are you speechless after listening to that?  Don’t hold back the laughter for too long as the onslaught begins shortly after the call, lead by none other than Android master Andy Rubin, who tweeted this…

Not open eh, Steve?  The idea that custom manufacturer skins and different versions of the OS make this not an open platform is a mind trick that only fools would fall for and Rubin’s tweet perfectly points this out.  (+1)

To add to the hilarity of the speech, Jobs also managed to specifically point out TweetDeck’s recent report on user statistics (1:40 mark) which mention the various versions of Android and the hundreds of devices it dealt with.  Of course he attempted to turn this into a negative, which TweetDeck’s CEO quickly responded to… (+2)

And to add to the awesomeness, Dodsworth went on to make it crystal clear that they only had 2 developers working on their Android product.  Yep, 2 developers were able to pump out one of the most polished Twitter clients to date that works on every single Android version available.  So much for fragmentation as an issue?  (+3)

There is so much more too this including further rants on Google telling tablet manufacturers to not use Froyo and how 7-inch devices won’t make it, but the guy isn’t worth that much more of our time.

I’m sure this battle is far from over.  Thoughts!

Steve Jobs Goes Off on Android, Andy Rubin and TweetDeck Respond is a post from: Droid Life

TweetDeck just got through releasing some fun-filled statistics and turns right around to release the official version of their wildly popular Twitter app on the Android Market.  It’s free as you may have expected and can found using the link or QR code below.  I do recommend that you uninstall your beta version as this market release will not overwrite it and you will have two TweetDecks.

Download Link

Official TweetDeck Lands on Android Market! is a post from: Droid Life

Tweetdeck released some pretty cool statistics last night that show which phone and what OS their 36,427 active beta testers are running.  The list definitely screams “Fragmentation!” for Android, but we already know that’s an issue and instead found the batch of unreleased phones that made appearances to be more interesting.  After just a quick glance, we found these 3 which really stood out:

• MB860 (Motorola Olympus)
• Droid 2 Global
• MotoA953  (Milestone 2)
• HTC Glacier

I’m sure there are more, so I’ll leave it up to you guys to dig through the list.  You can view the OS breakdown after the break.  

Yep, there was a Gingerbread mention in there.

Source:  Tweetdeck Blog

Tweetdeck Releases User Statistics, DROID 2 Global and Olympus Make Appearances is a post from: Droid Life

TweetDeck is quickly becoming the best Twitter app available on Android.  It pains me to say that after being a HootSuite fan for so long, but it’s hard to argue against it at this point.  In just a few short weeks, we’re 5 or 6 versions in with the latest update bringing 3 widgets to the table.  How many other Twitter apps have been out for months now and still can’t figure out how to put together a clean widget?  TweetDeck created 3 in about 3 weeks time.

Download the new version here.

Via:  Android Police

New TweetDeck Available, Includes Three Widgets is a post from: Droid Life

TweetDeck appears to be serious about making a top notch Android Twitter client and that should make you smile.  We all know how amazing their desktop client is, and after 5 or so beta updates in about two weeks time, you can tell that this is going to be a guaranteed winner as well.  A new version has just been released which can be downloaded directly to your phone now.

Download:  TweetDeck-0.9.5.apk

Changelog:

• Full compatibility with all phones running 1.6 and above
• Added option to remove Facebook, Buzz, or Foursquare accounts
• Added option to delete tweets sent by you
• Improved handling and refined UI for Facebook and Google Buzz attachments
• Fixed bug preventing successful updates containing multiple photos
• Added multi-Twitter account compose
• New “More” button on all Twitter user profiles and updates allowing

Reply All
Sharing
Translation
Copy update text
Copy update URL

• Tapping the header when at the top of the column will refresh that column

And don’t forget to follow us on Twitter!

Source:  TweetDeck

TweetDeck Beta V0.9.5 Released is a post from: Droid Life

My phone plays a large part in retaining my daily sanity. I work at a summer job where there is a lot of downtime, and at the moment I do a lot of switching between my Twitter and Facebook apps to check social streams. While I’ve never been one of those guys to say “Man, I wish I didn’t have to do the arduous process of switching between apps”, I won’t turn down apps that do both jobs well.

I’ll come out and say it: Tweetdeck for Android does that. Amazingly.

Though I had an account, I had never really used Twitter intensely until I installed the Tweetdeck desktop client. The web version’s interface makes is very unwieldly, as you can only see one stream at a time: sometimes friends of mine don’t even notice people are tagging them in posts until way past the fact. Tweetdeck made it easier by sorting different streams into different columns: one for your friends, one for your replies, one for your direct messages and customizable columns for custom searches. Later adding FourSquare and Facebook support, Tweetdeck makes it easy to post and monitor multiple accounts from one suite.

Tweetdeck for Android replicates this well by keeping the column design, which is accessed by swiping from side-to-side, like your home screens. When you start up the app for the first time, it prompts you to add as many accounts as you’d like: currently supported are Twitter (duh), Facebook, Google Buzz and Foursquare. As a result, you can see friends from each network’s posts, which are color-coded for easy viewing. Along the bottom of the home screen are four buttons: from left to right, they allow you to post a new message, manage accounts and view friends (divided by account, or all at once), do a Twitter search and bring up a GPS-enabled map (I’ll come back to this later).

Creating a new post allows you to check off which account you’d like to post the message to. The interface for this is easy to use, as each check-button is color and label-coded, so you don’t confuse accounts. You can attach pictures, location, and search an address book to tag your friends (Twitter only, at the moment) all from one screen. This is everything I expect from a full-featured Twitter client, but being able to post to the other services without having to switch to a widget or app is a great relief.

The account management and friends portion is very robust, allowing for a complete listing of every friend by service and alphabetical order. This is great for messaging specific people, especially when you don’t want to wade through the Twitter web interface’s horribly-sorted mess of icons. You can also write directly to a friend’s Facebook wall from their entry, as well as direct message them on Foursquare.

Also in this part of the app is a listing of your accounts, which allow for a singular view of everything having to do with them; the support for Facebook, Google Buzz and Foursquare is amazing here, even featuring full badge icons and mayorship listings.

Search is very functional, letting you find usernames and hashtags easily. Those hashtag searches can then be added as columns, allowing for real-time tracking. Ultimately, it’s simple, be effective.

Now, I said earlier I would come back to the map, and I’d like to say this: by itself, it has made me uninstall my Foursquare app. The reason is simple: it allows me to view nearby checkins on a map, instead of refreshing an oft-inaccurate list of nearby locations. I like this visual component of the game, as sometimes my GPS will think I’m miles away from where I know I am, and I will have to go into the text search to find my venue. This is a very large improvement over the Foursquare app, even if it requires listings to have accurate addresses. It also lists where friends have checked in by placing their icon on a map, Google Latitude style.  I haven’t been able to see if it works with GPS-enabled Tweets yet, as they do not show up. This would also be a big plus.

The options section is a little lacking, only letting us customize which columns will send a notification to our tray. It would be nice if we had the ability to choose how often they would, but I’m sure that will be included when it comes out of beta. Another desireable feature would be the ability to change the theme, like the desktop client.

But all in all, Tweetdeck has made me go against my rule of loving the first party. They have put together an amazing application that has made me uninstall my Twitter and Foursquare applications from my phone, as really, I don’t need them anymore; Facebook will stay, however, as I need message/photo/event support. Improving systems that already exist by making them easy to use and visually appealing is a sign of great development, and should be what people designing Android apps should strive for.

So go out and sign up for the Tweetdeck open beta; you get an .apk in your confirmation, which you can them use to install your app. Happy tweeting, and feel free to add me @mattdemers.

—

Matt Demers is a Toronto writer who can’t wait for summer to be over. He writes about Android for Droid-Life and about comics, D&D and other nerdery for NerdGirlPinups.com.

Review: Tweetdeck Open Beta is a post from: Droid Life

One of the most popular Twitter clients has gone into public beta as of today.  Supporting not only Twitter, but Facebook, Buzz and Foursquare, Tweetdeck is a staple for most social networking power users (just not me).  Since this is in beta, a first walk through left us a little disappointed with a lack of features that we enjoy in other Twitter apps, but you have to expect this player to bring the heat once it leaves beta status.

Head over to the Tweetdeck site and sign up now to receive the apk!

Tweetdeck Beta Released on Android! is a post from: Droid Life